Technifying and gamifying GP teaching

Abstract

What was the educational challenge?: Create a new GP teaching day based at the university hospital site that inspires medical students to perceive GP lecturers as academics with a view to following primary care as a future career.

What was the solution?: Technifying and gamifying GP teaching. Collaboration with the digital education team using new technology including virtual reality (VR) headsets and immersive projector room to embed innovative teaching practices into traditional GP teaching. Also used a gamification approach to introduce quality improvement and emphasise the importance of communication between healthcare teams.

What lessons were learned?: Students highly rated this teaching. Written feedback suggested it was valued far more than lecture-based teaching due to its immersive and interactive nature. Students strongly felt it prepared them for placement.

What are the next steps?: Further evaluation of this year's student feedback and a follow-up study of perceptions of clinical and academic general practice as career options. Working with the digital technology team to enhance the current teaching further and disseminating this work across the medical school.

Keywords: GP educators; gamifying; immersive learning; innovative teaching; virtual reality.